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Ipocras 3 ways from “The Booke of Carving and Sewing” (1613)

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Whenever I find a Ipocras recipe I write it out for my friend Helen. These are from a book I got from eebo.com called “The Booke of Carving and Sewing” (1613) printed by printed by Edward Allde for Sara White (in London). I dug around but I was unable to find more on this 40 page (20 pages in pdf) receipt book.

I started reading the manuscript because I was interested in the discussion of different feast days between the different versions of Ipocras.

Take Ginger, Pepper, Graines, Canel, Cinamon, Suger, and tornsole, than looks ye have five or sixe bags of your Ipocras to run in, and a pearch that your renners may ren on, then must ye have six pewter basins, to stand under your bags, then looke your spice be ready and your Ginger well pared, ere it be beaten to powder, than looke your stalkes, of Sinamon be well coloured, and the sweet Canel is not so gentre[??]n operation, Cinamon is hot and dry, Graines of Paradice be hot & moist, Ginger, Graines, long Pepper and Suger be hot and moist, Sinamon, Canell, and red Wine coulouring.

Now know yee(?) the proportions of your Ipocras, then beat your Powders each by them selves, and put them in bladders, and hang your bags sure that no bagge touch other, but let each Basin touch other, let the first Basin be of a gallon, and each of the other a pottle(?), than put in your Basin a gallon, of redde Wine, put there to your powders, and stirre them well , then put them into the first bagge, and let is ren, than put them into the second Bagge, than take a peece in your hand and assay if it be strong of the Ginger and alay it with Sinamon, and if it be strong of Sinamon, alay it with sugar. & look ye let it ren through six renners, and your Ipofras shall be the finer : than put your Ipocras into a close vessell, and keep the receite, for it will serve for sewes, then serve your Sovereign with wafers and Ipocras.

Very serious and then we find on page 20 something much simplier:

To Make Ipocras:

Take a gallon of wine, & an ownce of Sinamon, two ounces of ginger, & a pound of sugar, twenty cloves bruised, and twenty cornes of pepper grosse beaten, and let all those soak one night, and let it run through a bag.

and

To make Ipocras,

Take of chosen Cinamon two ownces, of fine ginger one ownce, of graines half an ownce, bruise them all, and steepe them in three or 4 pyutes of good odifferous wine with a pound of suger, by the space of foure and twenty howers, then put them into a Ipocras bag of wollen, and so receive the liquor. The readiest and best way is to put the spices with the halfe pound of suger and the wine into a bottle or a Bone(?) pot stopped close, and after twenty foure houres it will be ready, then cast a thinne linnen cloath and a piece of a beulter cloath in the mouth, and let it so much runne through as yee will occupie at once, and keep the vessell close, for it wilso well keep both the sprite odour and vertue of the wine and also of spices.

FINIS

A “wollen” ipocras bag amuses me greatly. I picture some poor apprentice using a sock.